1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fastening structure of an apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle (hereafter referred to as an onboard apparatus).
2. Related Art
Various apparatuses, such as a power plant and auxiliary apparatuses, are disposed in an engine room (or a motor room) on the front side of a vehicle. These apparatuses are fastened to the vehicle body and mounted so that the occupants inside the passenger compartment are not adversely affected not only at the time of ordinary traveling but also at the time of a collision and at the time of turning. For example, a structure has been proposed in which an onboard apparatus is detachably fastened to the vehicle body and the onboard apparatus is unfastened and detached when an external force is applied thereto due to a collision, whereby the onboard apparatus is prevented from making contact with apparatuses disposed behind the onboard apparatus, and another structure has been proposed in which a guide member for guiding a detached onboard apparatus in a predetermined direction is provided (refer to JP-A-2009-90818 and Japanese Patent No. 4943494).
However, in the structure in which the onboard apparatus is detached from the vehicle body so that the onboard apparatus is prevented from making contact with apparatuses disposed behind the onboard apparatus, the onboard apparatus may move in an unexpected direction depending on the direction of the external force input to the onboard apparatus, whereby there is a risk that the onboard apparatus cannot avoid making contact with other apparatuses. Furthermore, in the case that the guide member for guiding the detached onboard apparatus in a predetermined direction is provided, the increase in the weight and cost of the guide member is unavoidable.
In particular, in an electric vehicle and a hybrid vehicle in which an electric motor is provided as a drive source (hereafter, these vehicles are generally referred to as electric motor vehicles), an inverter for converting DC power into AC power between a driving battery and an electric motor is mounted. Since the inverter is equipped with a portion having a voltage higher than those in other apparatuses, if the inverter interferes with other apparatuses and is broken at the time of a vehicle collision, there is a risk that the high-voltage portion may be exposed and cause secondary damage, such as electric leakage.
The present invention has been devised in consideration of the problems described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fastening structure of an onboard apparatus capable of enhancing the protecting property of the onboard apparatus at the time of a vehicle collision while increase in weight and cost is suppressed. However, the object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned object, but an object of providing operational advantages that are derived from the various configurations designated in a mode for carrying out the present invention described below and not obtained by conventional technologies can be positioned as another object of the present invention.